Sonic X: Reboot
by Newbie-Spud
Summary: It was really a matter of chance. Pure, blind luck. Any other kid might've encountered the curious blue hedgehog. So what? Would it really change how things turned out? Would the story - the ending, even - really change? For the better or for the worse?
1. Chaos Control Freaks

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. No claim to copyright of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic X, and related concepts and characters is being made.**

**Sonic X: Reboot**

Chapter 1  
Chaos Control Freaks

It was nighttime. The full moon was big, bright, and only a little bit above the horizon. It lit the whole area rather well, including the large tree that was firmly planted at the edge of the water. The moon's reflection in the water was a beauteous thing in itself, since the calmness of it allowed the reflection to waver without it being erratic and distracting.

Such a perfect night for fishing.

Underneath the tree sat a large cat-like creature, its skin colored by wide stripes of blue and dark blue. A thick, white covering of fur covered the entire front of its rather thickly-proportioned body. It wore a gigantic belt with a huge buckle at the front, as well as boots to cover its large feet. In its gloved hands was a fishing pole, completely still as the cat held it in place over the water where its line dropped.

Sitting next to it was a small frog with large, yellow eyes. It simply sat there as the cat slept, having dozed off in the middle of the peaceful fishing venture.

But then a loud blaring sound began to echo through the area. The sound of an alarm. The cat's ears twitched – one after the other – as it was startled into wakefulness. The large, upright cat turned its head toward the source of the sound; a large, metal, cylindrical tower that dominated the space above the trees west of the lake.

* * *

At the tower itself, the scene could be described only as a panic. Alarms of various kinds went off in tandem, ranging from the low, wide signals to the high-pitched, frequent waves. Massive lights switched on from the tower's disc-like peak, bathing the entire area below it in light. What became revealed was a huge facility made entirely out of metal. The tower's base was a mass of pipes that fed underground to the rest of the smaller buildings, and the ground was a flat structure of metal plates. A tall metal wall surrounded the square patch of metal.

In the distance of the forest, a figure could be seen running by for only a moment.

At the facility, a large group of round metal machines on treads began to inch their way forward.

If you listened closely, it was almost possible to hear the sound of rapid footsteps. _Incredibly_ rapid footsteps.

Beyond the opening in the wall, the mobile machines gathered at the top of a hill overlooking a dirt path below them. The top panels of the round-headed robots opened up, revealing a load of machine gun barrels. In the facility behind them, turrets, tanks, and weapons of almost every variety made preparations to fire, all pointing in one single direction.

Then, all at once, they fired. The forward robots began to fire at the incoming target, an upright blue hedgehog donning shoes and gloves and running at a ridiculous pace. The path of the bullets' landings trailed behind the hedgehog just a little bit as they attempted to follow.

A huge multitude of missiles flew forth from every turret within the facility. Leaving trails of smoke that surrounded the tower, they all raced toward the running hedgehog, which was circling the facility in order to avoid running headlong into the barrage.

In one group after another, the missiles bombarded the ground in a trail leading up to the base. The missiles left behind gigantic explosions of smoke and dust in their wake, removing any visibility of the fast-running blue hedgehog.

The forward robots slowly rolled back, their single camera-eyes scanning the smoke for any movement.

Then the hedgehog burst forth from the smoke, a cheeky grin on its face.

The robots began to fire again, but the hedgehog was already upon them. As it came between them, it knelt down and took a leap into the air, landing on one robot's head. It then continued to jump from one robot to another, each of them being unable to point upwards to shoot at it.

From the last robot's head, the hedgehog bounced into the air and over the wall at last. Now on the metal ground of the base, the hedgehog made a beeline for the tower itself, with more machine gun turrets firing after him in a trail that failed to reach him.

Underground, more alarms went off while giant, 20-foot tall humanoid mechs powered on to life. As the blue hedgehog approached the base of the tower, several of these mechs rose up from the pit around it in order to stop him. But the swift hedgehog made a sharp left turn to avoid them. One of the mechs, flying through the air aided by rockets at their backs, followed the blue hedgehog as it ran along an inclined wall of the base.

The hedgehog dashed into a large hallway in one of the secondary buildings, but the mech continued to follow. They kept an even pace since the mech didn't completely fit into the corridor. But then a second mech crashed through the wall ahead with an intent to cut off the hedgehog's path.

But there was a small doorway to the left, and the hedgehog quickly turned to go through it.

The hall led back outside the building, and the hedgehog kept on running forward as a mech burst through the small opening behind him. But as the hedgehog ran, it passed over a large circular panel with a grotesquely evil, mustached face emblazoned on it. Quite suddenly, the panel rose up on a spring and thrust the hedgehog into the air. The mech flew up to the hedgehog's airborne position, pulled a huge metallic arm back, and swung. The metal arm smacked into the hedgehog's small body perfectly, sending it careening through the air with screams of pain.

"_SOOOOOONNIIIIIC_!" a young boy's voice cried out. From the skies above the military base, a blue plane raced by while following the path of the now-flying hedgehog. Piloting it was a yellow fox-like creature with three strands of fur sticking out from the top of its head and white fur covering its muzzle and chest. Behind it was seated a pink, feminine hedgehog wearing a red headband and red dress.

As the plane flew by, it was treated to the barrage of bullets fired by the turrets within the base. Several of the bullets pierced the side of the plane, and a burst of smoke from one such impact caused the pink hedgehog to let out a cry.

The plane cleared the base's airspace, but flames sprouted from its engine as soon as it did so.

The pink hedgehog peered down at the side of their plane, sweat running down the pink quills on the side of its head. "Tails, the plane's on fire!" the hedgehog cried out. "What are we gonna do!?"

The fox, answering to the name "Tails", looked back at the hedgehog with a serious look on its face. "We're gonna save Sonic." It then reached down with a gloved hand toward a lever on the left side of the cockpit and pushed it forward. This control released a missile from the plane's hull that immediately fired and raced toward the falling blue hedgehog ahead of them.

As the missile neared the falling hedgehog, it swiftly split apart and revealed a shining golden ring that had been hidden inside it. Propelled by the missile's velocity up to this point, the ring flew down and reached the blue hedgehog just as it reached the canopy of the forest below.

There was darkness and silence for a moment. Then, all at once, blue light burst forth as the hedgehog suddenly started flying back toward the base at incredible speed, taking the form of a shining, spinning ball. As the hedgehog spun, the ring remained within its hand.

The spinning orb that the hedgehog had become now slammed into the forward robots, bouncing off them like they were the flippers of a twisted pinball machine. Through several of them it simply crashed through their heads, leaving fiery explosions in its wake. Not losing momentum in the least, it crashed right through the stone wall of the base and into one of the gigantic mechs.

The spinning hedgehog ground against the mech's armor for a few moments, pushing it back until it bumped into another mech behind it. Then, finally, a few plates of armor gave way, allowing it to burst through not one but _both_ of the giant robots, which both exploded into a huge fiery mass as the hedgehog flew onward.

Just as the spinning hedgehog neared the tower, one more mech flew up, grabbed it, and slammed it back down to the ground. The hedgehog seemed trapped until it flew upwards, shattering the robot's arm and body as it careened upward toward the tower's peak. The hedgehog crashed into one of the massive lights in the disc-like top, entering the insides of the tower.

* * *

Meanwhile, the smoking plane the fox and the pink hedgehog were in came crashing down to the ground, skidding across the grass and sliding at high speeds. The fox called out, "Hang on, Amy!"

Struggling to hold on, the pink hedgehog responded by opening its eyes and looking ahead. It gasped as they came rushing toward a _massive_ rock at high speed. "We're gonna... _crash_!!" the hedgehog screamed.

"I knoooow!" the fox screamed back, equally panicked.

But just before they reached the rock, a massive force slammed into the rock from behind it, shattering it into many tiny pieces just in time. The plane slid through the flying debris with little damage to its passengers, spinning to one side as the sliding back end gave it some extra friction to bring it to a stop.

Immensely glad that they were not dead, the fox looked up at the last portions of the rock. "Knuckles!" it cried out.

Standing on top of the rock was a red echidna-like creature. It had a white crescent moon symbol on its chest, its tail was bent twice in a jagged manner, it had menacing knuckles on its gloved fists (hence the moniker), and it was scowling down at the fox and hedgehog. The echidna simply grunted, then turned to glare at the military base in the distance.

"What's the matter with _him_?" the pink hedgehog muttered, annoyed at their savior's apparent disregard for them. After all, the echidna had punched through a **massive** rock to save them, and was now acting as though their lives weren't worth saving.

The echidna watched as explosion after explosion appeared in sight and in sound, indicating the excessive mayhem that was ensuing at the base. The echidna was not impressed at all. "Overkill," it muttered. "Just like always."

* * *

At the top level of the tower, thick metal doors began to close every few yards in an effort to bar the path to the central control room. The outside of the room was lined with monitors and control panels of many kinds, and the center of the room was dominated by a glass case surrounded with controls.

At one panel, the screen showing a layout of the tower's top level indicated the closure of the many doors leading toward the center room. Seated at this control panel was a tall, thin, yellow humanoid robot. "Doctor Eggman," it stated as it turned back toward the figure in the center of the room, "the facility is in one-hundred-percent lockdown."

"Why does that cursed Sonic always get in my way!?" demanded the receiver of this report. Answering to the name Doctor Eggman was a large man with a peculiarly egg-shaped torso. He wore large goggles on top of his bald head, then dark reflective glasses across his eyes. He had a thick brown mustache that flared out as soon as it cleared his rather large nose. His standard outfit, the one he was wearing at this moment, was a red jacket with white and gold trim, as well as black pants and boots.

From behind Eggman came a reply to his outburst. "He doesn't get in your way, Doctor Eggman," replied a young girl's voice. Sonic just tries to stop you from doing all the bad things you like to do."

"_Chao Chao_."

Eggman turned to a spherical glass cage in the back of the room. Imprisoned within it was a big-eared, light brown-furred rabbit creature, which was wearing a red outfit with a white collar and a blue ribbon acting as a necktie. Within the rabbit's arms was a tiny, stubby blue creature with a yellow orb hanging over its head.

The doctor was not impressed. "Oh, is that so?" He held up a small, shiny red gem in his hand. "Well, he's too late to stop me this time. Once I insert the last Chaos Emerald, my Energy Amplifier will be _invincible_."

He then gestured toward the central machine of the room. Within the glass case was a small power generator of some sort, and the case was surrounded by a ring of seven control panels. In each of these panels was a slot, six of them taken by more gems of other colors.

The rabbit frowned. "But you can't do that!" it cried out.

The creature in the rabbit's arms nodded. "_Chao Chao Chao_!"

"That's right," the rabbit agreed, interpreting what no one else could, "Sonic won't let you get away with this!"

"Mwahahahahaha!" Eggman cackled in immediate response. "You're wrong, Creamy-dreamy. Hehehehehe! _HAHAHAHA_!"

High above them in the room, near the ceiling, a female bat creature wearing knee-high boots, a black jumpsuit, and a pink heart-shaped breastplate watched the mad doctor continue to laugh from a support beam above. It simply watched with a smirk, apparently choosing not to directly show itself.

The doctor let out another chuckle, then added, "He can't stop–"

Then the three-inch thick metal door behind him suddenly burst open with a _crash_, letting in a wave of smoke. The mad doctor jumped a little, then turned around to gape at the intrusion. The smoke slowly parted to reveal the blue hedgehog, standing in the broken doorway with the ring shining from its closed gloved fist.

"Sonic!!" the rabbit exclaimed, a big smile appearing on its face.

Doctor Eggman suddenly looked as glum as could be. "Sonic..." he groaned, frowning at the blue hedgehog. But then a malicious look came over him. "_Too late_."

With frantic speed, the doctor slammed the red gem into the final panel and pressed a myriad of buttons in a seemingly random order. He then pulled out a small rod attached to the machine by a cable and held it in his hand. On top of the rod was a button, presumably the one that would activate his prized Energy Amplifier.

Holding his thumb over the button, Eggman grinned at the hedgehog and said, "You'll never stop me now, Sonic. Hahahaha... All I have to do... is to push this _little button_! HAHAHAHA!!"

The hedgehog didn't lose the grin on its face as it listened to this. Finally, it spoke. "Yeah..." it said in a mocking tone of sorts. "If you can push it before I grab it!"

The doctor grimaced, realizing that the hedgehog had a fairly valid point. But then a small robot appeared from the light behind the hedgehog, wielding a pair of machine gun arms. The doctor then grinned again and said, "Why don't you give it a try?"

The robot began to fire, but the hedgehog chuckled at it and started running at high speed again. The bullets continued to miss with round after round, even as the hedgehog ran up the curved wall of the room. Eggman glared at the robot and shouted, "Don't let him get away!"

The bat above them backed up a little bit to hide behind a support beam, barely managing to dodge the spray of bullets that sparked across the area.

"Stop him, no matter what!" the doctor ordered. And it was just as he said this that the hedgehog dropped from the ceiling and landed right in front of him. The robot turned to fire, following the orders it had received half a second ago. "Aaah!" the doctor screamed, holding a hand out in a halting gesture. "Hold your fire!"

But it was too late. The hedgehog jumped up and the doctor ducked as the robot shot at them repeatedly. Fortunately for both of them, they both managed to dodge the barrage of bullets. Instead, the attack hit the machine directly behind Eggman.

"Ack!" the doctor yelled in a panic. "Heeeere weee goooo!" And with no further ado, he pressed the all-important button.

The machine sparked with strange-colored energy while electricity sparked from the bullet holes all over it. As the machine began to glow with a bright white light, the doctor glared at the weapon robot like everything was all its fault. "Wh-What have you done!?"

The hedgehog, the bat, the rabbit, and the two other robots in the room stopped and stared at the glowing machine. This was clearly not what anyone had expected at all. Everyone simply stared as the strange energy continued to discharge from the machine for a few moments, the glow from it becoming more and more intense by the second.

Then, all at once, they were bathed in white light.

Far away from the tower, the echidna, fox, and pink hedgehog watched as the entire facility became enveloped by a slowly expanding white sphere of light. The fox and the hedgehog were wide-eyed, yet the echidna remained normally stoic and serious.

"What... is that?" the pink hedgehog asked, too stunned by the sight to sound concerned.

There was silence for a moment as they all watched the sphere of light expand and travel toward them. Then, finally, the echidna muttered, "It has to be Chaos Control."

Some distance further away, the large fishing cat looked toward the tower only to see the white light overtake him. Long after everyone nearby had been consumed by the light, it continued to expand with no apparent end, swallowing up everything in its radius...

* * *

It was some time later before he woke up. He groaned a little, then forced his eyes open. But the image that came to him was blurry, unfocused, and more than a little dark. He held his head and shook it wildly, trying to regain his senses in a hurry.

"Man..." Sonic the Hedgehog said to himself. "I musta passed out or somethin'."

He heard sounds. His eyes still weren't working properly, but he heard strange sounds. He looked from side to side, trying to detect how the sounds changed and where things were coming from.

Then, at last, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Two bright lights, quickly approaching him, accompanied by the sound of...

"GAAAH!" Sonic screamed, getting to his feet and running to the side as the vehicle sped toward him. He dodged it successfully, but then heard a horn blare as another pair of lights headed toward him. Sonic ran and flailed, trying to dodge several vehicles in this fashion while he still couldn't properly see.

Noticing that the sounds had quieted down, Sonic rubbed his eyes and looked up. Finally, his eyes were working again, and he could see what was going on. He was being bathed by many bright lights, but he could at least tell what was past them now.

Beeps and horns sounded off as he found himself in the middle of an intersection between two cement roads, surrounded on all sides by cars and people.

He looked up, and gasped as he saw massive, bright buildings towering all around him. They looked to be on the scale of something Eggman would make, but these... were a lot friendlier-looking. And brighter. This whole place was extremely bright – almost annoyingly so.

People began to get out of the cars, and Sonic stared at them for a while. They were human, like Eggman! They were a bit more normally proportioned, but they were humans all the same. Sonic frowned, beginning to ponder the implications of what he was surrounded by. "Where am I?" he said softly to himself.

He gulped, and noticed that they appeared to be just as fascinated by him as he was in them. "Wh-What are they all staring at?" he muttered, feeling slightly unnerved by this attention. He then scowled a little bit as he realized that everyone looked either _afraid_ or _angry_. What was with these people!?

"What is this, Halloween!?" some stupid-sounding guy in a garbage truck called out.

Sonic frowned at the man, looking back at him over his shoulder. "So they can talk," he noted dryly to himself. With all of the silent staring going on, he had begun to wonder.

"What is that thing...?" another guy behind him muttered. Sonic turned to see two people wearing identical dark blue uniforms staring down at him. "Looks like a big hedgehog!"

"A _blue_ hedgehog?!" the other one said incredulously.

The first one shrugged. "Well... whatever it is, we better get it outta here..." The guy took off his cap, knelt down to face Sonic, and grabbed his hand. "Hey, buddy! Wanna ride with us down to the station?" he said in an annoyingly light voice, like the type one would use on little children.

The second uniformed man leaned toward toward the first one's ear. "Should I call for backup?"

The first one smiled. "I have three kitty-cats at home. I think I can handle this little fella." He then made a "come-here" motion with his finger and started making kissing noises.

Sonic scowled and folded his arms, just staring at the man with a defiant look. But as revolting as this treatment was, it was telling him a lot about what people were thinking of him, so he put up with it.

The second man was surprised with his aggressive response. "See that? That thing's got an attitude – a bad one!"

The first guy – the one with blond hair, Sonic noticed – lost his fake smile in a hurry. "Yeah?" he muttered. "Well, he won't get away from me!" The man lunged, but Sonic quickly moved two feet to the right in a flash. Sonic simply watched in silence as they reacted, obviously confused by his speed.

"Why you little...!" the second slightly overweight officer exclaimed, drawing out a baton from his belt.

"Take it easy," a third officer said with an accent, grabbing the second one's arm. "I tink we can handle dis without gettin' rough."

"Yeah..." the second guy said lamely, "but Sar-"

Sonic tuned out the people's voices for a moment and noticed that more officers had arrived. They were now surrounding him. He barely managed to suppress a grin at the sight. Was that how they really wanted to handle this?

Four officers gathered around him and prepared to lunge. "Alright den, is everybody ready?" the one they called the Sargeant said. "Let's... _do it_!"

They all lunged and grabbed at whatever they could, forming a pile around the spot. "Okay Sarge, I think I got his leg!" one of them called out.

"I got 'im around the neck, Sarge!"

"Alright!" the Sarge proclaimed. "Let's pull 'im out at da count o' _tree_! One, two, _tree_!"

They pulled, and found themselves pulling on the legs of their fellow officers, sending them all spinning and sprawling. Sonic, of course, had waited until the very last second to move, but he had still been able to avoid getting even touched at all by any of them.

Sonic watched these shenanigans from the roof of a nearby car, and simply shrugged at the sight. It wasn't like they were going to catch him, anyway. Wasn't his fault.

But he was surprised when a net was suddenly stretched over him. One of the extra officers had gotten him. Sonic glared at the guy, who said, "Don't worry Sarge, I got 'im!"

Sure they did. Sonic jumped off the car and started running, dragging the officer behind him. Three other uniformed men grabbed on as well, trying their best to drag Sonic down as he ran by all of the stopped cars.

A police car driving toward the scene braked hard so as not to crash into the group, and ended up turning to its side. Sonic jumped over the car, providing just enough force for the flying police officers to let go and fly through the side window of the police car. The officers all became squashed in the inside of the car.

The Sergeant got up in the cramped space and grabbed his radio. "Attention all units! Attention all units!"

That was the last Sonic heard as he finally got the net off himself and started running. Fortunately, the street ahead was entirely clear, so he was able to run fairly quickly without worrying about running into anything.

He came to a bridge spanning a river running through the city, on which there was a single police car. To the surprise of the officers within it, Sonic jumped onto the hood of the car and rode it for a little while. Taking a break from running, Sonic looked around at the city surrounding him.

"I don't know how I got here," Sonic muttered to himself, "but I gotta find a way to get out!"

He readied himself for the run ahead of him, then jumped off the car and easily sped away from it.

Inside the car, two officers simply stared wide-eyed at the road ahead. "H-Hey..." the one in the passenger's seat muttered out of the corner of his mouth. "Did you see... what I just saw?"

"I think I did but I wish I didn't," the driver replied a little stupidly.

* * *

Sonic kept on running, eventually reaching the highways that were built above the ground. So far, he was unimpressed with the various attempts to stop him. They had tried chasing him down with helicopters and cars, and that hadn't worked. They'd tried to blockade the road entirely, but he'd been able to just jump over them.

As fun as this chase was, it was turning out to be just too easy. Eggman put a lot more effort into it than this. Of course, Eggman apparently had more tools than these humans did, and Eggman often knew what he was dealing with. And above all, this wasn't helping him get back home anytime soon.

Eventually, this chase would have to stop. What then?

The road was now silent. The police had stopped chasing for a while. Sonic skidded to a halt near a lamplight and jumped up to get on top of it. From here, he had another great view of the city and the area surrounding it. But he'd already seen too much for his liking.

Sonic found himself staring up at the full moon. There had been a full moon back in his world as well, he realized. "The sky looks the same... So do the stars and the moon."

The hedgehog thought back to Eggman's lab, where the machine had simply exploded into light. The thing had obviously malfunctioned with the damage it had taken, and with all the Chaos Emeralds' power running through it, the light could only be explained by one thing.

And it explained everything else. "I guess Chaos Control sent me here," he decided. Chaos Control warped things across time and space, so it made sense if this was some kind of different universe or soemthing. And if that was the case, then there was a way to get back. It wasn't an easy way, but–

"I traveled through space," he added quietly. "Did I travel through time, too?" He paused as a fearful thought came to his mind. "Am I the only one here?" Were all of the others... gone?

The sound of engines in the distance brought him out of his reverie. He took in a deep breath, and then stood on top of the lamplight. "Well... Guess I'll find out soon enough!"

Sonic jumped off the lamp and landed on the street below. As he expected, light started to approach him as several cars drove toward him. But there was something different about these ones. Sonic stared with a dropped jaw as five red, sleek Formula 1 cars pulled up to him and came to a halt. Sonic wasn't familiar with the model, but he could see that these cars were obviously made for speed, if the spoilers and fins were any indication.

Still, the flashing red lights were the same as those of the police, which made Sonic wary. The forward car's cockpit opened up with a hiss, and the driver stepped out. Sonic couldn't see anything but the eyes past the helmet and jumpsuit.

"Hi there," the driver said casually, waving at the hedgehog. "You're a hard hog to keep up with."

Sonic frowned. They were trying the friendly approach again? Why did they keep wasting his time?

He turned to leave, but the driver said, "Hey, hold on." Sonic looked back and noticed that the driver had taken off his helmet, revealing a young man with bright red (borderline orange?) hair. As the racer reclined against his car, he said, "We don't get such fast company very often. In fact, I'm glad you showed up. This place is way too peaceful."

Sonic didn't mind peace. He kept his back turned at a three-quarters angle, looking back over his shoulder with a frown.

"Over the last twelve months," the racer continued, obviously full of himself, "I've only made one arrest. Some joker got it into his head that he was a hotshot driver. Had his own Formula 1 car and everything. I guess he thought he'd give me a run for my money."

A proud grin appeared on the man's face. "It was all over in a minute. It took me longer than that to suit up! He never had a chance."

Sonic finally turned around to face the racer, giving him a smirk of his own. A human managed to capture a criminal that fast? He had to admit, he was very intrigued now.

"Of course, it's our own fault," the man went on, happy to see that he had Sonic's attention. "This town's dull mainly because of us. You see, we're the High Speed Pursuit Unit. The S-Team. And I'm the leader of the team."

He finally got up from his car and stood up straight. "They call me the Highway Star. So even if you think you're the fastest thing around... _think again_."

Sonic was happy to see such enthusiasm for speed, but the roar of the engines behind the forward racer caused him to jump and start running. The four other Formula 1 cars raced after the hedgehog, starting the big chase all over again.

As the cars remained in hot pursuit, Sonic found that he only needed to sprint at his average pace in order to match their pace. He loved it! For people who prided themselves on being the fastest, this was way, _way_ less than what he'd been expecting! "The S-Team, eh?" he said with a laugh. "The 'S' must stand for 'slow-motion'! Hah!"

With that final laugh, Sonic accelerated his already incredible pace to start gaining a greater lead. But apparently, the racers had some tricks up their sleeves. Two of the cars slowly began to catch up to him and overtake him. "Well, well, well! It's starting to look like rush hour!"

One car took the lane in front of him, while the other three cars took the lanes to his sides and the lane right behind him. They were trying to trap him. "Oh no," Sonic said with fake distress, "how will I ever escape? Ha ha ha!" He grinned and leaped forward, squeezing through the space between several cars as he accelerated even more.

He came up to the side of one of the cars and looked in on the driver, who seemed to be wondering where he'd gotten to. Sonic grinned and knocked on the glass of the cockpit, then surged ahead even more. Once he was far enough, he jumped back and landed on the top of the car, getting a free ride on the glass cover.

Smiling, Sonic bent over and peered into the cockpit, looking at the glasses-wearing driver of the car. The driver glared at him and shouted, "Hey you! This is dangerous! It's irresponsible! What happens if _kids_ start trying this?"

Sonic's face turned solemn for a moment as he turned to look into an imaginary camera. "Kids, don't use Formula 1 race cars to catch hedgehogs." He then laughed and jumped off the car, speeding ahead.

Oh, how fun this was! He hadn't been able to play with speed like this in a long while. Eggman had apparently gotten harder to beat, because he couldn't remember the last time he'd dealt with a _pushover_!

Just to taunt them further, Sonic turned around and started running backwards, smiling at them and folding his arms as he let his legs do all the difficult work. And he still remained ahead of them, even as they adjusted their wings and slammed the throttles to give themselves the maximum speed their cars would allow. He could just _see_ the drivers fume uselessly as he taunted them.

It was all he could do not to start laughing his head off.

But then things began to change. The four cars moved to the side, leaving the center line free. At this moment, Sonic finally remembered that there had been five cars in the S-Team's group. Where was the cocky leader?

And suddenly, there he was, speeding forward with the power of a rocket behind him. The leader had stored nitrous in his car! Sonic got out of the way just in time, switching to forward running as the leader's car boosted ahead.

Sonic grinned. So this was it, huh? The last stand they had to make to keep their title of "the fastest"?

What a joke.

* * *

"Nyehehaha!" the lead racer cackled as he left the hedgehog far behind. The twin nitro engines were slamming him into his seat, but he had completely outpaced the challenger! "The only way he can beat me now..." he muttered, fighting the force that was pushing him back, "is if he goes supersonic! Hahaha!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of blue. Time seemed to stop for him as he looked upon the smiling hedgehog to his left, its legs moving so fast that they looked like a spinning ball. The wind itself seemed to slice open as it moved by...

And then it was gone, becoming a blue streak accompanied by the sound of an explosion that the racer immediately recognized.

"A **sonic boom**!" he screamed. "He's moving faster than the speed of sound!!!"

"_Chief!"_ a voice came through on his radio. _"You're running out of road!"_

The leader panicked and pressed a button on his dashboard, releasing three parachutes at the rear of the car that began to slow him down. He pressed down on his brake with every ounce of strength he had, fighting his own acceleration in order to come to a stop.

Ahead of him, the supersonic hedgehog kept on running and running, right into the barrier at the end of the unfinished highway. The blue streak crashed right through and flew forward into the air, destined to land on some random location back in the main city. It passed by some wind turbines on the next hill, sending a huge draft that sent them spinning wildly.

Fortunately, his car came to a complete stop before the end of the highway. The racer took a deep breath, then opened up his car, removed his helmet, and stared into the brightening city sky. That hedgehog had taken his title... for now.

But there would be another race.

* * *

The city lights received a major boost in intensity, thanks to the extra power from the wind turbines Sonic had passed. As he coasted over the city, Sonic smiled and said to himself, "Maybe this place isn't so bad. At least I know somebody I can have fun with."

He continued to fly over the city, but his upward momentum was beginning to drain away. Gravity was beginning to notice him again. Sonic was normally used to falling from great heights, so this was no big deal in itself.

But there was a problem. If he was guessing his direction right, he was perfectly lined up... to fall right into... "The... The river!?" Sonic exclaimed as he plummeted. A rather insane, adrenaline-induced grin appeared on his face. "Uh... oh?"

Sonic tried moving his feet in the air as fast as he could, but it didn't get him anywhere. With one final look toward the sky, he nervously smiled and said, "See ya...!"

* * *

Since the river ran through the middle of Station Square, several major roads ran along and over it. But they were all empty thanks to the police blockades. Empty except for one person.

Walking along the river was a teenage boy with short brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a large closed umbrella in his hand, which he was using as a makeshift walking stick. He didn't need it, but he was using it all the same.

The teen looked around at the empty streets, a nervous look on his face. He was supposed to have waited until the police blockades had been lifted, but he was out late as it was and he needed to get home. It wasn't like there was a criminal running loose or anything, if the police officer's strange explanation was any clue. A _hedgehog_, really?

The young man sighed and turned toward the street his home was on, but then heard a gigantic _SPLASH_ behind him. He turned around just in time to see a huge plume of spraying water rise up and then scatter all over the surface of the river.

* * *

Sonic had been holding his breath for a while now, and had been expecting the force of the impact. It had stunned him for a few moments, but he quickly recovered and jumped up as soon as he reached the river floor.

And he floated back down again. As good as he was as jumping, he couldn't get past the water resistance very well. He tried looking around, but there was almost no light shining through the water from the city lights above. Not only that, but the water was moving. There was a _current_.

Sonic tried running in the direction where he thought the shore was, but his quick running just kept him off the ground and moving nowhere. And the current kept dragging him further and further away from shore. Sonic finally couldn't hold his breath any longer, and he tried to breath in. As expected, he only got a mouthful of water. He flailed about wildly, trying to find anything that would help him get out.

Suddenly, his arm brushed against what felt like a metal stick enveloped by cloth, and he immediately grabbed it. As soon as he did so, the stick seemed to pull him forward, dragging him up and out of the water.

Then he was above it, with fresh night air to breath. His feet finding dry land, Sonic took only a few steps before he ended up falling and choking up water.

That had been close. Too close.

"What in the...?!" a voice near him exclaimed. As soon as the water was out of his lungs, Sonic shook his head and looked up at the source of the voice. Kneeling beside him was another human man. He seemed just a bit younger than the racers, and he was holding a closed umbrella in his hand. He was also soaked from the chest down.

Had this guy saved him?

The young man stood up, his face an expression of shock. Sonic realized that he probably hadn't been expecting to pull a blue hedgehog out of the water. Great.

"Ugh..." he groaned, still recovering his sense of balance. "Thanks a lot. You saved me back there."

"Y-You can talk?" the young man asked.

Sonic groaned again. Were all humans this difficult in this world? At least the racer had been **glad** to see him. Looking up at him, he said, "Well, I can do a lot of things."

A look of recognition crossed the boy's face. "You... You're the one they're..."

Sonic panicked and backed away from the kid. "Hey, don't turn me in! You just saved me!"

The boy seemed surprised by this. He looked down at his umbrella, then back up at Sonic. Finally, he said, "N-No, I... I won't do that."

Sonic sighed. "Oh, good..." Maybe there was a peaceful end to this crazy night after all.

The boy sighed and then knelt down near Sonic again. "Hey, my name's Alexander. Do you have a name?"

Sonic nodded, and then stood back up. After shaking to get some water off himself, he grinned at the boy and said, "Yeah, I have a name. My name... is Sonic the Hedgehog."


	2. Sonic to the Rescue

Chapter 2  
Sonic to the Rescue

The bright red numbers said 6:28. In the dim light, that was the only thing he could see.

Groaning, the brown-haired teen got up from the bed, stood to face the dresser directly in front of him, switched off the alarm he'd set for 6:30, then promptly dropped back down onto the bed. The next half hour was spent fitfully slipping in and out of sleep, always closing his eyes only to worriedly awaken two minutes later.

Such was his morning routine.

Finally, as the digital alarm clock read 7:02, he sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. At 7:07, he had collected enough energy to get back onto his feet for an extended period. He absentmindedly reached for the pair of jeans that had been discarded on the floor, but his hand was met with the sensation of damp denim.

Morning amnesia was instantly dispelled. The last evening, the river, and the talking blue hedgehog all came rushing back to his mind.

The teenager quickly pulled out a fresh pair of jeans from his dresser and put them on, and finally stepped out of the bedroom. He sighed as he looked at the bedroom door right next to his, and slowly pushed it open. Inside was a rather bare guest bedroom, respectfully clean compared to the mess that was his own bedroom.

And the blue hedgehog appeared to still be asleep on the bed. It was laying on its back, its gloved hands behind its head and with one leg over the other. Alexander sighed again, but closed the door quietly.

He stepped into the tiny kitchen of the apartment, ignoring the clutter in the sinks and on the counter. Then, on the other side, was the dining room section. Though it wasn't really being used as a dining room. Instead, two PCs were set up across from each other near the window, the blinds of which were currently closed.

Connected to the tiny dining room area was the living room. On the far side of a sliding glass door was a humble entertainment system set up on a creaky metal frame. The glass door's large vertical blinds were also closed, and Alex didn't think that a venture onto the balcony would be in his best interest at the moment.

Instead, he grabbed the remote on the futon opposite the TV and turned on the system. The modestly-sized TV flickered into life, showing a news program already in progress. The footage being shown right now was one from a helicopter involved in chasing down Sonic the night before. A spotlight shone on the blur that was Sonic as he ran along the highway, but the speeds and Sonic's coloration against the highway made it nearly impossible to identify him.

"_Due to the high speeds of the footage here, it is impossible to make out an image,"_ the female reporter spoke over the footage. _"But this supersonic speed demon has the city baffled."_

It cut to an interview of one of the policemen that had first encountered Sonic. He was holding a hand up to his bulging stomach as a gesture of measurement. _"It was about this high, it was blue, and it looked like a freaky hedgehog."_

Then they were looking at a man sticking his head out of his car to speak to the camera. _"I was doin' about sixty when this thing went 'Whoo!' right by me!"_

A rather large man with a mustache appeared next. _"That thing moved too fast to be a regular animal! I think it was goin' faster than mach five, no kidding!"_

Then they cut to a rather thin, squint-eyed man in a lab coat holding a grinning monkey. As the monkey played around with his glasses, he said, _"I suppose it could be a U.M.A. - unidentified mutant animal. As to the question of whether or not this is a natural creature from our planet, my answer is quite firmly 'no.' Even the cheetah, which is widely believed to be the fastest member of the animal kingdom, cannot outrun a speeding Formula 1 police car. Because of this, the nearly inescapable conclusion that one inevitably arrives at is that this so-called hedgehog is in reality a machine."_

Alexander quickly turned the volume down as the footage returned to the reporter, the red-headed Scarlet Garcia of SSTV News. "_That_ was a little wordy," he muttered to himself. If people like that were allowed to ramble on and on with crazy ideas, then there was really nothing to be learned from them. People were panicking.

The teenager decided to go to his computer. As he sat down and allowed one of them to boot up, he thought about the speculations people were throwing around. Machine? No. Something that light and that fast would've probably fallen apart one way or another in the river. This hedgehog was obviously living and real.

The computer was almost ready to use, and Alexander leaned forward to look down the hallway on the other side of the kitchen. The guest bedroom's door was still closed. Alex returned his attention to his computer, where he logged in, put on his headphones, and opened up his web browser.

* * *

Sonic lazily opened up one eye, and did a quick mental check of himself. Did it feel like a good time to wake up?

After a moment, the answer turned out to be yes. Sonic stretched a little bit on the bed, then jumped up and landed on the floor next to it, fully aware and awake. As glad as he was that this kid had let him sleep on the extra bed, he was in no mood to enjoy it while there was still a mystery to be solved. So he walked toward the door and swung it wide open.

He stepped out into the hallway on the other side of the kitchen and directly entered the living room. Sonic had to grimace just a little bit. The place was a mess. Eggman's robots left less of a mess than this was. Various boxes, plastics, dishes, books, and electronics were scattered all along the couch, tables, and floor.

Carefully stepping through the mess, Sonic moved to the left into the dining room, where the boy Alexander was seated at a computer. Alex stared at him for a little while, and Sonic stared back. They both seemed to realize just how strange this situation was, and this morning was turning out to be nothing but a reminder.

Sonic shrugged off the awkwardness and said, "Good morning."

The teenager was silent for a few more moments before finally murmuring, "Morning." Apparently, it was much more awkward for him that it was for Sonic.

Sonic moved toward the kitchen, which turned out to be even worse of a mess than the living room was. He frowned, but moved onto the tile flooring anyway. "Got anything to eat?"

This question kept the Alexander silent for a while again. "Well... whatever looks good to you, I guess... I mean, I don't know what you do for breakfast, but..."

"Why not?" Sonic asked legitimately.

Alex grimaced and took off his headphones. "Because, well... you're a walking, talking, blue hedgehog! I don't know what you eat, and I'm not sure I want to make assumptions and embarrass myself on this one." He then put on a wry grin and shook his head. "At least I'm not the only one confused."

Sonic tilted his head, and then looked up at the cabinets above him. "How am I confusing?" he asked as he contemplated his next move.

"Ah..." Alex hesitated. "Um, we do have hedgehogs here, but they're small." He held his hands in a ball shape that was just slightly bigger than Sonic's shoe. "And brown. And they're on all fours, and they don't talk. Whereas you're upright, intelligent, and clearly sentient. Other than the fact you're a blue hedgehog, you're really close to being human." He then put on a thoughtful look. "Then again, I don't think anyone else has heard you talk, have they?"

Sonic grinned and jumped up toward the cabinet, grabbing the swinging wooden door and pulling it back as he fell down to the kitchen counter. But he slipped on a collection of spoons on the counter and nearly fell back down, using the door as the only thing keeping him up as he tipped over the edge.

As Alex looked on worriedly, Sonic shot him an unimpressed look. "Dude, you really need to clean up in here."

The teenager recoiled and then averted his gaze, covering his eyes with one hand. "Um... Yeah. I do. I'll... yeah."

Sonic looked up at the now-open cabinet. Inside was a yet unopened bag of potato chips, among other things. It would be a decent snack, he decided. He pulled out the bag and looked over at Alex.

Alex shrugged. "Sure."

"Thanks," Sonic said, and jumped back onto the floor with the bag of chips in hand. He walked over to the computer behind Alexander and jumped onto the seat, staring over the kid's shoulder at the bright computer screen. "Whatcha doin'?"

Alex had his headphones back on as he watched a video online. "Catching up on the ruckus you caused last night. There are videos all over the Internet from the news and police footage of the chase." With that, he unplugged the headphones and turned his speakers up.

Sonic crammed a handful of chips into his mouth as some police footage played on the screen. It was a side view of a blockade that had been set up on the highway. _"Roger Delta 1,"_ a voice layered in static played out through the speakers._ "Unit 3, subject is headed your way. Repeat: Subject is headed your way."_

"_Don't you worry,"_ the reply from the police blockade came. _"This hedgehog can't get under us, around us, or through us! We'll stop 'im."_

Sonic grinned as a blue streak appeared in the footage for a moment, bouncing over the blockade with ease. There was a small amount of radio silence before the same officer said, _"Well... he... didn't get under us, around us, or through us, heh heh heh..."_

Alex stopped the video and turned around to face the blue hedgehog. "I also saw how you outraced the entire S-Team."

Sonic shrugged. "Like _that_ was hard."

"Um, Sonic?" Alex muttered, refusing to let Sonic drop the subject. "Those guys were the fastest on the road. The only things that have gone faster than them are vehicles specifically designed to break land speed records in the desert."

This intrigued the blue hedgehog. "Really? I guess I've got some more racing to do, then!"

To Sonic's mild surprise, a delighted look graced the teenager's features. "Wow..." Alex said with a slightly dropped jaw. He chuckled and said, "You really are the fastest thing alive, aren't you?"

"_Now let's go live to this late breaking story,"_ Scarlet Garcia's lowered voice came through from the TV.

The sound of a young girl crying came through and interrupted the conversation. "_N...No... please!" "Chao Chao!"_

"Huh?" Sonic and Alex both said simultaneously. They quickly moved from the computers to the TV, and Alex turned up the volume as soon as he could.

The camera zoomed in on a billboard in downtown Station Square. Seated at the very base of the billboard was a cream-colored rabbit holding a small blue creature. Both were shaking in fear as a fireman climbed a ladder to reach them. _"Please... leave us alone!"_ the rabbit wailed.

"It's Cream and Cheese!" Sonic exclaimed.

"It's _who_?" Alexander echoed, one eyebrow shooting up.

Sonic paid him no heed. "I'm not the only one who got transported to this crazy world after all!" he muttered. "I'll save those two!" With a serious look on his face, Sonic raced at high speed to the front door at the other end of the kitchen and quickly opened it.

As Sonic raced out the door, Alex panicked and shouted, "Do you even know where they _are_!?"

With the home being one at the top of an apartment building, Sonic was racing around the corners of the hallways when Alex's shout reached his ears. He quickly came to a skidding stop, raced back into the apartment, and gave Alex a nervous grin.

Alex scowled and slammed the door shut.

* * *

Sonic watched impatiently, his arms folded and a foot tapping, as Alexander stared at the TV screen. On the news program, they watched as Cream and Cheese were picked up by the servicemen and carried away slowly. It was agonizing to watch, for the hedgehog. "C'mon!" he growled after a moment. "Where are they?!"

"Ehh..." Alex mumbled, hesitating before giving Sonic an uneasy look. "Sorry, but I can't tell what intersection they're at. And... even if I did, I'm absolutely terrible with directions anyway, so..."

Sonic scowled and looked back at the TV. "So you don't know anything helpful here?"

"Ah, no," Alex replied matter-of-factly. "I'm... just an average kid, Sonic. I don't have any special insider information or anything like that."

"Well, we gotta do something about this!" Sonic insisted.

"I know!" Alexander replied hastily, beginning to share Sonic's frustration. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking! Just give me... Grr..." He grumbled his way into silence as he continued to watch and wait.

The camera zoomed out to reveal the crowd that had gathered around the scene, which was mostly comprised off policemen, as well as people in dark blue uniforms with "G.U.N." printed in white letters on each person's back. As the sobbing rabbit and her pet Chao were brought down, they were handed into the arms of one of the uniformed men.

"_Alright, that's enough,"_ a voice came through, and the camera zoomed out some more to show one police officer approaching the cameraman. The program cut back to the reporter, whose comments were cut off by Alex finally turning off the TV.

"Huh?" Sonic mumbled. "What are you doing, Alex?" But as he looked at the teenager, he found that he was being almost completely ignored. Alexander just sat there, looking intensely contemplative with a furrowed brow and a scowl on his face. "...Alex?"

Alexander took a deep breath and waited a few moments. Then he stood up. "Cream and Cheese are going into the hands of GUN," he explained. Realizing that an explanation would be needed, he added, "The Guardian Units of Nations. They're a global military and law enforcement organization with lots and **lots** of resources. They police the world on an international level. If they're involved in this, then they're really treating you guys seriously."

Sonic scowled. "How seriously?"

Alex shrugged in a defeatist fashion. "Depends on how wild their theories are. And believe me, there have been some pretty wild ones floating around, if the news and the Internet are any indication." He frowned and walked over to the computers. "At the very least, they're going to want to do some tests. Which means that they'll take her into custody and bring her to one of their top secret facilities."

"And where would one of these top secret facilities be?" Sonic asked innocently.

Alexander looked absolutely dumbstruck by the question. "Wha...? H-How in the world am _I_ supposed to know!?" he exclaimed. "It's _top secret_! Someone like me isn't supposed to know that kind of stuff!"

"Okay, okay!" Sonic said. He felt that Alex was being just a little bit over the top in his reactions. "But what do we do? That information helps us _somehow_, right?"

"...Yeah," Alex replied, grimacing, "it does. I have an idea."

Sonic suddenly didn't like the tone in the teenager's voice. At all. "What is it?"

Alex paused for a moment. "...I can't just call them up and ask where Area 51 or whatever is. They're not going to care about someone like me. I don't mean anything to them, so I can't make demands." He glanced meaningfully back at Sonic. "Unless I grab their attention with something they want."

The hedgehog immediately understood. "Oh no... C'mon, I thought you said you weren't going to turn me in!"

"It's the only way you can even get _close_," Alex explained quickly. "They'll take you personally to wherever Cream is, as long as you set those terms before agreeing to go along with them. We can try to reason with them about you guys not being harmful and whatnot, but... I don't know, I don't think GUN's going to pass up the chance to label something as a threat."

Sonic's expression was turned sour with the effort of his internal conflict. Walking right into the hands of the military sounded like a very bad idea. It seemed like less trouble for him to just start running around randomly, searching for likely locations. But... in this case, Sonic felt like giving Alexander the benefit of the doubt. He'd saved his life once, after all.

"How do we get their attention?"

* * *

The control room of GUN Headquarters was a mass of computers, screens, and techies constantly in motion. People monitoring satellite feeds, instructing special police personnel, and managing political crises were all throughout the room, each of them wearing a headset and at their own monitor. A few more people patrolled the room, relaying information and giving instructions where it was necessary.

In the back of the room was a section surrounded in bulletproof glass, where people could watch the goings-on of the control center from a raised platform. Front and center in this section was a single chair and a stern-looking, gray-haired man standing in front of it, wearing a military officer's uniform.

One particular techie seated at a computer leaned back a little as the next order of business appeared on his screen. Apparently, there was a call being forwarded to them from the GUN hotline number. Someone in the PR department didn't know how to handle a certain call, apparently. With a sigh, he tapped a few buttons and allowed the call to come through. What was it going to be _this_ time? "This is the GUN control center," he said half-heartedly into his headset microphone.

"_Yes, hello,"_ a young voice on the other end of the line replied. _"I, uh, saw on the news that you guys took some kind of rabbit thing into custody."_

The techie nodded, though he knew this random kid couldn't see it. He'd executed the acquisition order himself. "That's correct, sir."

"_Well, uh, I've got a blue hedgehog here who isn't happy about that."_

"What!?" the techie exclaimed, nearly jumping in his seat. Did this kid mean the blue hedgehog from last night!?

"_Yeah, that's where I lost the hotline guy."_

Frantically, the man began to send commands into his computer, sending a command that would track where the call was being made from. Regaining control of his voice while the command ran, he said, "Okay, okay... Where are you going with this?"

"_I'm saying that this hedgehog wants to... negotiate her, uh, the rabbit's release. And hopefully explain the situation, you know, before this whole thing gets out of control."_

"Uh-huh." Finally, the screen came up with a map with a location marked on it. The call was coming from a pay phone a few streets south of the main avenue... And fortunately, there was already someone nearby...

* * *

"_Uh-huh. So, what are you saying? Does he want to be picked up?"_

"Sorta," Alexander replied into the pay phone, glancing back and forth nervously at the passers-by. He certainly wasn't going to be recognized right off the bat, but the hat, sunglasses, and heavy coat would soon attract some attention in the middle of a sunny, late-Spring day. "Not to go under study, though," he continued. "Just to talk. They're near-human, you know. They're intelligent, and they have personalities."

"_...Right,"_ came the unconvinced response. _"Alright, someone will be there to pick him up shortly."_

The phone clicked as the call was suddenly dropped. Alex was surprised by this. They hadn't even asked where he was...

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Alex quickly turned around to look up at a slightly taller woman wearing a dark suit and sunglasses. Alex gulped, looking back through his own sunglasses. "Wow, that was fast..."

The woman quickly grabbed him by the arm and started to drag him along. "Hey, hey! Wait a minute...!" Alex protested, struggling to no avail. The undercover GUN agent was a lot stronger than him.

Then, out of nowhere, a blue streak sped by them, creating a gust of wind that nearly bowled the two of them over. The woman's grip on Alexander's arm was lost as she stumbled, and Alex looked around for a moment in wonder. Then he realized what had happened. It hadn't been planned, but he knew that this was as good a time as any to get out of this. He turned on his heel and sprinted away, heading back home.

As he prepared to go around the corner, he looked back once. He saw Sonic standing in front of the GUN agent and speaking with her for a moment, before being led into a black limousine parked a few yards away. Alex sighed a little and ran back home. It was out of his hands now.

* * *

Sonic watched from the balcony of Alexander's apartment as the teenager put their plan into action through a pay phone just down the street. Something inside him nagged at his mind and feelings as he did so. This... didn't seem right. This didn't seem like the right thing to be doing. Just sitting here, waiting for someone else to impose their rules on him...

He didn't like this one bit, when he thought about it. But he'd promised to go along with Alex's plan. And it wasn't like the kid didn't _mean_ well. He was trying his best to help while keeping things mostly under control. Thinking in the long term. But when it came to Eggman and the kind of trouble Sonic's friends got into, long-term plans tended not to pan out very well.

Sonic shook himself from his reverie and looked down on Alexander's position again. He saw a woman in a dark suit dragging him away from the phone... Alex was in trouble!

Running at a ridiculous pace, Sonic sped through the hallways and stairways of the apartment building, racing out the front doors and rushing right by Alexander and the GUN agent. The draft from his passing was enough to nearly knock them over, releasing Alexander from the woman's grip.

Sonic rushed back to the position, only to find that Alex had already taken to his own feet and vacated the scene. That was good; he'd taken the impromptu cue perfectly.

He looked back toward the GUN agent, who looked down at him with a scowl. "So you're going to come quietly?" she inquired.

Sonic simply stared back at her, letting his silence answer her. As a general rule, he didn't like to talk with these strangers, preferring to see how they reacted around him.

Fortunately, the woman interpreted his silence correctly. "Very well. Come along, then."

The agent led him to a black car that was parked some distance away. The woman opened up the back door to let Sonic in, then moved around to the driver's seat. Sonic stepped in and took a seat on a leather couch in the back.

The woman started up the engine, and _slooooooowly_ pulled out from the curb. Sonic groaned internally. Yes, this wasn't turning out to be the best idea. If wherever they were going was as far as Sonic thought it was, then this was going to be an **agonizing** trip.

* * *

Some distance away from Station Square's city limits, the plains gave way to desert highways. The limousine traveled along the empty roads on its long trip toward the top secret military base established in the wastes. It was known as Area 99, and it was shrouded in more than its fair share of mystery.

There was a bit of discussion as to whether or not the hedgehog should've been sedated before coming along on the trip. But, as it turned out, there was little need for that. The blue hedgehog had fallen asleep long before they had left the main highway, and remained that way for the rest of the trip.

The driver nearly had to shake Sonic awake, but the hedgehog finally noticed that the car had come to a stop and forced himself awake. He stepped out of the limousine, taking in his surroundings the best he could. They were just beyond a fence gate, which surrounded a gigantic military complex. There were multiple airplane hangars, bunkers, armories, and other establishments surrounding the large, domed main building in the center.

If Sonic didn't know any better, he would've assumed that Eggman was behind this. It was all very reminiscent of the previous night, right down to the need to rescue Cream. Except this time, as per Alexander's suggestion, they were trying to do this peacefully.

Hopefully, these people would be a lot more agreeable than Eggman had been.

A group of armed guards surrounded Sonic as they escorted him through the large, automatic metal doors leading into the main building. They traversed a maze of fully lit metal hallways, passing by a multitude of security cameras above them and many strange rooms on the sides. Very high-tech, yet even Sonic could recognize that this was on a level below Eggman's creations. For one, there wasn't a robot to be seen unless you counted the security cameras.

Finally, the guards stopped in front of a doorway, and Sonic walked inside. It was a long, narrow room with a table at the far end, and there was a tinted window running along the right side. Sonic didn't doubt – and turned out to be correct – that there were research personnel on the other side of the window watching him.

Several of the guards left, but a couple of them stayed within the room as the door shut. Sonic turned to face them, maintaining his frown and his silence as he regarded them. So far, things didn't look too good... They'd led him to an empty room. What kind of tricks could they be pulling out of their sleeves at this very moment?

But he waited. That's obviously what they had intended.

And, surprisingly enough, he was rewarded for his patience. The door opened once more, and Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao stumbled through. The rabbit's eyes widened at the sight of the hero, and tears immediately welled up in them. Sonic found himself in a panicked embrace as Cream clung to him, crying, "Oh, Sonic! Thank goodness you're here; they locked us up in a glass cage and pointed cameras and lights at us and, and...!"

"_Chao Chao_!" Cheese seemed to agree, tightly squeezing himself into the embrace as well.

Sonic sighed as he held the two smaller creatures. He was glad to see that Cream was okay, but the young rabbit's obvious distress disturbed him. But he didn't have time to reflect on this as the door opened once again.

This time a tall, brown-haired man entered, wearing a white lab coat and carrying a clipboard. He moved past the hedgehog, rabbit, and Chao and sat down at the table at the other end of the room. As he placed his clipboard on the table, he stared at them with a serious expression and said, "Well? Can you speak?"

Sonic's expression didn't lighten up at all. "_Yes_," he said pointedly, and nothing more than that.

The subtext of the statement wasn't lost on the researcher. It rendered him silent for a half-moment before he replied, "I see. You have to understand, we cannot take any chances in national security. If we were to let our guards down toward every strange phenomenon, it would be all too easy for one trick to cause our downfall. You understand?"

Sonic nodded once.

The man nodded back and started writing on the clipboard in front of him. "I have to insist, however, that while our investigation will assume a new context from this moment forward, you must remain in our custody while we work to figure out what you are, where you've come from, and how you got here."

Cream pouted. "Why didn't you just ask us in the first place?" she asked, her voice wavering with the sobbing she was recovering from.

"Do you _really_ know?" the man asked, not even looking up from his notes.

Sonic was annoyed by the man's pretentiousness. This was apparently a guy who believed that nothing was proved until it was recorded by science. With that kind of attitude, it was unlikely that they would listen to anything they said, even if they tried to explain the situation as they knew it.

Besides, he _definitely_ didn't like the idea of being stuck here in this facility. The polished blue metal reminded him of Eggman's base, with that same sterile, unfeeling aura about it. It was an aura that also seemed to emanate from the people working here; people who had become accustomed to an attitude of scientific blindness.

But before he could start his objections, the lights suddenly switched off.

"What the...!" the man shouted, no longer visible due to the lack of light. It was now pitch black all over the building.

"_Abnormality detected in the electrical system. Abnormality detected in the electrical system,"_ a robotic female voice repeated throughout the building. The electricity had completely failed, killing the lights and cameras in the central building.

Sonic knew that he only had a few moments to act. He searched his feelings for a moment, trying to see what he felt was the best course of action to take. A moment later, he dashed toward the door at high speed and kicked it with all his might. The metal door buckled and snapped off at one end while the other end twisted outward.

"What are...?" Cream started, but Sonic shushed her and grabbed her arm. There was next to no light to go by, but Sonic started feeling along the walls and heading in the general direction he'd come from. One way or another, he was getting them out of here.

* * *

In a large electrical shaft within the building, a group of hard-hatted engineers surveyed the damage. From what they could see, a great number of key wires had been sliced open somehow, cutting off power to just about everything except for a few systems running on reserve power.

One engineer with a rather thick mustache reached for something he found on the was tiny, sharp, metal, and of a golden color. "What is this? A paper airplane?"

Indeed, it was in the shape of a paper airplane. There were also darker yellow ridges through every side of it, much like what one would find in computer circuitry.

As the engineer noticed this, he gasped in surprise. "I-Impossible! Someone's sabotaged the entire system!"

As he looked toward his fellow engineers, he gestured toward all of the other "paper airplanes" embedded in the walls and wires all around them. "Let's get moving, boys! We need the power back on right now!"

* * *

Sonic held Cream's wrist tightly as they ran down the hallway. Likewise, Cream hugged Cheese tightly against her as they rushed through the corridors. Sonic was running his hand along the wall as they progressed since they couldn't see.

"Did you do this, Sonic?" Cream asked, sounding much more excited now that they were in the escape.

"I didn't do it, Cream," Sonic said, smirking back at her even though he couldn't see her. "I guess it just happened."

Cream beamed back in the darkness. "Maybe it just happened because you bring good luck everywhere you go, Sonic!"

"You might be right," Sonic replied. And then the lights turned back on.

Sonic and Cream quickly came to a halt in surprise. All at once, every visible camera turned toward them in an ominous manner. "I shouldn't have said anything... It must be a jinx..." Cream said, shaking once more.

Sonic glared up at the cameras. "This isn't your fault."

On top of each camera, a panel opened up as a small mounted laser rose up and pointed at Sonic and Cream. Sonic scowled as soon as he realized what this was, and said, "Cream, hang on!"

"Okay!" Cream replied, and let out a gasp as Sonic started pulling her along again.

From above, each of the security cameras started firing blue lasers at them that scorched the metal as they barely missed. Sonic and Cream quickly rounded the bend in the hallway, Cream barely managing to keep her footing as Sonic ran as fast as the rabbit could possibly allow.

Sonic knew that they couldn't dodge them forever. They needed some extra time. He let go of Cream's hand and started running a little faster.

"Sonic!" Cream said, quickly panicking.

"_Run_!" Sonic shouted back. After a few more steps, he leaped up toward one of the cameras and bashed it out of its socket with a punch. From there he jumped on top on an adjacent camera and grabbed each side of it. Forcefully, he turned the camera toward each other one in the hallway and started zapping them one by one.

Cream watched with a slackened jaw as Sonic transformed each camera ahead of them into a broken, smoking heap. She let out a tiny scream as one such destroyed camera crashed right next to her.

"Keep running!" Sonic shouted down at her as he wrenched his captured camera off its socket.

Cream quickly composed herself and smiled up at the blue hedgehog. "Right!" Immediately, she set off running as fast as she could by herself, while Sonic bounced from wall to wall to reach the next set of cameras to sabotage.

"_D-2 area lockdown in progress."_

All throughout the facility, loud bangs could be heard as wall after wall came slamming down to prevent any exit or entry from the area. One such door slowly made its descent as Cream ran straight toward it.

"The door!" she yelled. "We can't make it out!"

Sonic heard this and immediately came running down the wall. Running at his signature high speed, he picked Cream and Cheese up and sped toward the closing door. At the last second, they managed to just barely duck under the door as it closed behind them.

More lasers fired around them, and Sonic quickly placed Cream down behind him. There was a massive number of security cameras aimed down at them. There was a moment of tension as the lasers stopped firing for some reason.

Cream gasped as a strange whistling sound echoed from further down the hallway. "H-Hey... What are they?" she asked fearfully.

"They" was referring to a whole swarm of little yellow paper-airplanes, almost enough to completely obscure the hallway in the cloud of them. And "they" were headed for Sonic and Cream.

Sonic scowled and braced himself. But the impact never came. Instead, the little airplanes rose up and sliced through the camera mounts instead, sending each one crashing to the floor. Sonic's jaw dropped for a moment, but then settled into a grin.

"I don't understand... What's going on?" Cream inquired nervously.

"We can't stick around to find out!" Sonic replied, grabbing Cream's hand again and pulling her through the hallway again. The lockdown door ahead of them was rushing down, and they barely made it through before it closed.

* * *

"_Facility lockdown in progress."_

In the security room of Area 99, the officers assigned at the monitor stations were in a panic as they searched for the runaway hedgehog. But things were getting worse for them. One by one, the monitors were blinking out to static as each security feed was mysteriously cut off.

"_Facility lockdown in progress. Facility lockdown iiinn proooog..."_

The automated voice was drowned out as most of the power went out as well, enveloping the building in darkness again.

Out in the hallways, the remaining security cameras started moving and firing in entirely random directions. Explosions rolled through the facility as walls and floors were blown apart by the high-intensity lasers.

"The laser surveillance cameras are out of control!" one unhelpful officer reported dutifully.

* * *

Sonic and Cream climbed up a large set of stairs as laser cameras continued firing from the floor below them. Cream was nearly off her feet the entire time as they climbed the stairs, almost entrusting her entire weight to Sonic's forward momentum.

"Sonic, are we going to make it out?!" Cream couldn't help but ask.

"Don't worry, we'll make it!" Sonic said, his voice strained by the effort so far. At that moment, two lasers cut through a section of the stairway that Sonic had just passed. As the stairway fell, Cream fell with it. Sonic lost his grip for just a moment, and Cream let out a scream as she plummeted.

Sonic grabbed the girl's wrist again, holding her in midair from his position on the stairs. He quite nearly lost his balance in the act, but managed to prevent her from falling any further. Another laser cut through the part of the stairway behind him, leaving him with just a small bit of stairs connected to the stone wall beside them.

Seeing the chunk of stairs fall, Sonic reached down with his other hand and dragged Cream back up to what remained of his footing. Then, holding her in his arms, he took a flying leap up the stairs to the next remaining chunk. Just in time, as it turned out, as one more laser cut through what had been their little "island."

So he continued, jumping up through the destroyed stairs which had originally circled around the inner edge of a cylindrical tower. As they reached a set of thick support beams at the top of the domed tower, Sonic felt that they had escaped the lasers' range for now.

Sonic took a deep breath as he looked down at the mayhem now far below them. The hedgehog then grinned at Cream and said, "See, Cream? I told you we'd make it, and we did! You didn't doubt me, didja?"

Cream smiled and shook her head. She then clasped her hands together and exclaimed, "Thank you for saving me!"

The blue hedgehog smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. "Any time, Cream. Any time!" But his grin was dropped as he noticed a strange sound muffled by the stone dome. "Hey, what's that?"

Curious, Sonic pressed an ear against the stone to listen better. It was a sort of buzzing sound at this point. "Sounds like... a plane." His eyes widened in realization, and he grinned once more. "The Tornado!"

* * *

Indeed, encircling the airspace above the central facility's domed roof was a blue plane, piloted by the same yellow fox as the night before Chaos Control. "This must be the place," the fox said to himself as he turned around for another pass.

Then a section of the roof burst open as Sonic, carrying Cream and Cheese, broke through it and sailed through the air. The fox smiled at the sight. "Alright, Sonic!" he cheered, and sent the plane in for a dive.

With perfect timing, the Tornado flew under the three and caught them on the right wing. Sonic quickly flattened himself and Cream against the wing as they flew up and away from Area 99. "Hey, Tails!" the hedgehog called out to his friend.

The fox laughed and waved at them in response.

"It was you!" Cream exclaimed suddenly. "You're the one who helped us get out of there!"

Tails winked back at her. "Now hold on tight and don't fall!" He turned the plane toward the left, tilting the plane and lifting Sonic and Cream up a little. Tails glanced back at Sonic and shouted, "Any idea where we can hide for a while?"

Sonic grinned. "Depends! Can you land on a building in the middle of town?"

* * *

As lunchtime started to come around, Alexander Karsath was on his way back to his apartment. He was carrying a paper sack chock-full of groceries, which he'd taken up many, many flights of stairs in order to climb to his top-story apartment.

By this point, he was quite tired and ready to spend the rest of the day relaxing. As he reached the end of the open-air hallway overlooking the street below and dug into his pocket for his key, a loud banging sound rattled through the air above him, startling him and making him drop his groceries. "What the...!?"

The next thing he knew, the rabbit from the news earlier that morning swung down from the roof and landed in the hall next to him, carrying the small blue creature as usual. Following suit was a yellow fox with white fur on its chest and – to Alex's surprise – sporting two white-tipped tails. Then, last but not least, Sonic dropped down beside them.

Alex, for his part, was more than a little surprised. "Wh-What's going on?"

"I brought some friends home," Sonic explained playfully. "I hope you don't mind."

Alexander stared at Cream and Tails for a moment, then fumbled for his key and quickly unlocked the door. "Alright, get inside, get inside!" he whispered intently.

Cream, Cheese, Tails, and Sonic all moved through the door just in time as a middle-aged man wearing a blue shirt rounded the corner of the hallway. "Alex!?" the man called out. "Did you hear a loud banging noise?"

Alex had been in the middle of picking up his groceries, and froze for a moment in fear. Then he grinned sheepishly at the man. "Sorry, Damon, that was me. I... had... a lot of canned goods in one bag. Lost my balance trying to carry two... y'know..."

The man nodded, relief showing on his face. "Alright. Be careful, Alex." With that, he turned on his heel and moved away.

"Gotcha..." Alex said, and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as Damon was out of earshot. He finally collected the groceries into the paper sack, brought it into the kitchen, and closed the door behind him.

"Who was that?" Sonic asked him as soon as the excitement was over.

Alex leaned against the fridge with a frustrated look on his face. "Damon Kuzmic, the landlord. He's the one letting me stay in this place by myself."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "By yourself? No one else lives here?"

Alex shook his head, and then lifted himself off the fridge. "So how'd it go?"

"We broke outta there," Sonic said indifferently.

"_What_?" Alex snapped, wide-eyed.

Sonic remained indifferent. "They were still gonna hold us hostage there. What'd you expect?"

"They're the _army_!" Alexander retorted angrily. "At the very least, I was hoping you could stop hiding tomorrow!" He groaned and paced back toward the door. "I just hope they didn't ID me earlier... As it is, they're gonna be searching still..."

"Um..." Cream interrupted hesitantly, peeking out from the corner of the kitchen counter. "Is everything alright, Sonic?"

Sonic looked back at his friends and nodded. "Don't worry. We're pretty safe here. Right, Alex?"

Turning around, Alexander ended up looking eye to eye at the fox and rabbit. They were staring at him with a rather passive fear in their expressions. After a moment, Alex said, "As long as they haven't pulled in the satellites, sure..." He took a deep breath and approached the other animals. "I'm Alexander. I've known Sonic for about a day now."

The fox smiled and said, "I'm Tails!"

Alex chuckled. "_Really_?" he replied sarcastically, glancing at the twin tails bobbing behind the diminutive pilot. But this earned him disapproving looks from both Sonic and Tails. "Sorry."

"S'alright," Tails responded. "Anyway, I'm Sonic's very best buddy. Right, Sonic?"

Sonic smirked. "Correct."

Cream then smiled while both she and the Chao stepped forward. "My name is Cream, and this is my very special Chao friend Cheese." As both of them took a respectful bow, she added, "Thanks for helping us."

Alex couldn't help bowing a little bit in return. "Well, uh, no problem at all, Cream."

"Hey, Alex," Sonic said suddenly.

"Yeah?" Alex responded.

"This place looks pretty different," he noted, gesturing around at the kitchen and living room.

Alex looked at what he was gesturing at, and then chuckled a little. "Well, uh... I did some tidying up, Sonic."

Indeed, the whole apartment was in much better shape than it had been that morning. Most of the clutter was gone, the kitchen counters had all been wiped down, and every movie Alex owned was back in their respective cases and on the shelf.

Sonic grinned. "Not bad, Alex!"

"Thanks," Alex said, smiling back. "So! I suppose you four are gonna be hiding out here, huh?"

"Pretty much," Tails agreed. "Unless that's a problem."

"No, no..." Alexander said, as he started to put away the groceries he had brought in. "I think I'll need to do a little more food shopping tomorrow, though..."

"Alright," Sonic said, as if to settle the matter. "Hey, Tails, that was some pretty impressive stuff back there. You saved us twice even before we met up!"

Tails grinned and brought up one of the remote paper airplanes. "Eh, it was nothin' special."

Stopping in his task, Alex took the device and studied it. It was barely larger than the end of his finger. Noticing the circuitry on it, he marveled at it. "Wow... You made this?"

Tails' namesakes started spinning around as he swelled with pride. "Again! Those are nothing special. We've got lots of neat gadgets!"

"Nothing special?" Alexander echoed, particularly excited by what he held. "Tails, this is genius stuff! Years and _years_ ahead of our time!"

"It's normal, really," Tails insisted. "In the world we come from, that is."

Alex quickly switched from excitement to curiosity without losing any intensity. "A different world? Really?" He glanced back at Sonic and said, "Is that what we're dealing with here?"

Sonic simply nodded, using his pinky to rub the inside of one of his hedgehog ears.

Tails put a finger to his forehead. "I think we got here through a warp in time and space." Then he regained his composure as a thought appeared to occur to him. "Hey, Sonic."

"Yeah?" Sonic said.

"I just thought of something..." Tails explained, his tone having become extremely serious. "If you, me, Cream, and Cheese are here... Maybe the others got here too?"

Sonic's expression became thoughtful. "You might be right about that, Tails... And if you are... that means... maybe..."

The same flash of insight struck all three companions at once. "_Eggman's here too!_"

Alex did a take. "Huh?"

* * *

Ocean waves crashed onto the beach of a tiny island situated a long distance to the west of Station Square. It was an uninhabited speck of land with a rocky plateau surrounded by beaches. But now, a rather peculiar sight was now its main decoration.

Sticking out of the rock face – at a rather awkward angle – was a large metal tower with a dome-like top. The exact same tower that Sonic had assaulted the previous night.

As the sun began to set, the tower was reactivated. The building that had made it through Chaos Control was completely self-sufficient, even with the masses of cables embedded in the rock below it. With the cloud of security robots scattered through the air around the tower, it was now a perfectly functioning base for Doctor Eggman.

At the front of the dome, up in the heights of the tower, Doctor Eggman took his seat at his main command terminal. The main viewscreen flickered to life, revealing a wonderful view of the ocean leading up to the beaches of Station Square.

His two humanoid robotic assistants stood behind him. Decoe, a tall, slim, gold-colored robot, stood on the left while Bocoe, short, stubby, and silver, stood on the right.

"So..." Doctor Eggman mused as he stared out into the sunset sea. "We were transported into this world by Chaos Control." Grinning madly, he declared, "Very well, then. I'll rebuild the foundation of the Eggman Empire here, and soon I'll rule the _entire universe_!"

Eggman's mad cackling echoed throughout the entire tower, in the knowledge that his intentions would soon be revealed to terrorize the world once again.


End file.
